Germanium(IV) iodide reacts with tetraalkyl tin at 250 °C to form R2SnI2 and R2GeI2 (R= Et, Bu, Ph).[5] It reacts with germanium and sulfur at high temperatures to produce red GeSI2 and orange Ge2S3I2.[6] It reacts with diiron nonacarbonyl in an ionic liquid ([BMIm]Cl/AlCl3) at 130 °C to obtain Ge12[Fe(CO)3]8I4.[7]
Germanium(IV) iodide is an orange-red crystalline solid that hydrolyzes in water. It is soluble in carbon disulfide and benzene, but less soluble in carbon tetrachloride and chloroform.[3] It begins to decompose into germanium(II) iodide and iodine above its melting point.[8] Germanium(IV) iodide crystallizes in the cubic crystal system, space groupPa3 (space group no. 205), with the lattice parameter a = 11.89 Å. The crystal structure consists of tetrahedral GeI4 molecules.
^Kocheshkov, K. A.; Fomina, N. V.; Sheverdina, N. I.; Zemlyanskii, N. N.; Chernoplekova, V. A. Reaction of tetraalkyltin with germanium tetrahalides. Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, 1973. 3: 711. ISSN: 0002-3353.
^Holleman, Arnold F.; Wiberg, Egon; Wiberg, Nils (1995). Lehrbuch der anorganischen Chemie (101., verb. und stark erw. Aufl ed.). Berlin: de Gruyter. ISBN978-3-11-012641-9.